Friend has relaunched the Friend AI pendant with a new speaker, turning the wearable from a device that only texted replies into one that can answer out loud. The company is also charging $249 for it, up from the earlier $129 price.
The change surfaced in a new Friend ad posted on X, which shows two people talking to their pendants about personal problems. The ad does not spell out the hardware change, but The Verge reported that the new version adds a speaker. Before this relaunch, Friend’s replies were delivered as messages.
Friend founder Avi Schiffmann posted the ad on X and called the device “Friend 2.0.” The product page, according to The Verge, still uses the name “Friend,” because apparently version numbers are optional when the necklace starts talking back.
What is the Friend AI pendant?
Friend is a small AI companion device worn as a pendant. Its pitch is artificial companionship: the user talks to it, and the device responds, previously by message and now also by voice through the added speaker.
The speaker is the only new feature identified in the relaunch. Friend has not, in the reported materials, given a detailed explanation of what else has changed in the hardware or software. The confirmed shift is straightforward: the pendant can now produce audio responses instead of keeping the interaction on a screen.
How much does Friend cost now?
The relaunched Friend costs $249. The earlier price was $129, so the speaker-equipped version raises the buy-in by $120 and comes close to doubling the original price.
That increase lands after an unusually conspicuous first act for the company. Friend previously spent $1.8 million of its $2.5 million in funding to buy the friend.com domain, according to The Verge. The company also ran ads across New York City’s subway system promoting the idea of an AI companion.
Those ads helped make Friend a target for criticism. About nine months before the relaunch, protesters gathered in New York City to call attention to increasing dependence on technology, with Friend serving as an obvious symbol because of its citywide advertising campaign. The Verge reported that Schiffmann promoted the protest by posting an image about it and also attended the event himself.
The relaunch does not appear to change the core argument around the product. Friend is still selling a wearable AI companion, now with a voice, at a higher price. The company’s new ad leans into intimate, personal conversations with the device, which is the same bet many AI hardware startups keep making: that people want a dedicated gadget for interactions their phones can already mediate.
For buyers, the practical difference is narrow but meaningful. A pendant that texts back can be ignored until the user looks at a phone. A pendant that speaks back turns the interaction into something more present, more public, and probably harder to pretend is just another notification.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.
